Fate's Experiment
by Rock-n-Round
Summary: AU. Fashion designer by day and undercover spy by night, Mikan encounters a human experiment known as Thirteen—a deadly weapon of the Alice Organisation. When she decides to bring him home, mysteries soon unfold and a love-hate relationship begins. #05
1. Prologue: The End of Hope

**A/N: **Thank you for clicking onto my story :D Hah right, so sue me for starting a new story—it's actually to replace "Of Links and Collections" after it's gone, but I couldn't resist the temptation of getting it all out in proper words. I had to do it before my thoughts run away, you know :) Anyway, this story's a pretty exciting one, I'll have to say—pretty much like "Blindfold" in terms of the genre, but yet not quite. It isn't one of those everyday cliche dramas; it has that, you know. Element of surprise and... originality, I guess? The idea just jumped out to me one day, I don't know how I got it either. Oh and, prologue's pretty short. Nonetheless, hope you enjoy it!

**Pairings:** Basically N/M, R/H and T/M—there'll be more in the story as it progresses I guess.

**Warning**: It's a little dark. (You could just turn on the lights, though ^^)

**Review reply: For the mysterious reviewer who did not leave a name, your reply's at the bottom! **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gakuen Alice.

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**Fate's Experiment **

_By Rock-n-Round_

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**Prologue: The End of Hope**

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_Run. _

With that thought in mind, the boy grabbed onto his sister's hand, as he called out to his blonde-haired friend to hurry up. The departure between their parents was made quicker than they liked it to be, but they simply couldn't afford staying for another second. It was dangerous—they couldn't take any chances. Making a turn, the boy tried to adjust his red eyes to the change of light. The sky was getting increasingly dark; but they still had to run.

_Run__, as fast as you can. _

The boy darted his red eyes around, wondering where to go. Now that they were separated from their parents, they did not have someone to return home to; someone to look after them, someone to look out for them, to protect them—all they had were each other. Nonetheless, they still had to run away and live on.

_Keep running, and don't look back. _

The boy felt someone drag him down—his sister had fallen down. The boy muttered a curse, and harshly whispered to her, "Please get up." The girl nodded, and tried to; however she couldn't. He saw his childhood friend flash a look of worry and alarm, but the boy merely gave a reassuring nod and picked his sister up. The three continued in their way, and the boy's ears picked up a sound.

_Tap. Tap. Tap, tap__, tap tap—_

It was the sound of running feet—heavier, quicker and more trained than theirs.

The boy snapped his head up in alarm, and turned sharply to look at his blue-eyed friend. The ruby-eyed child gestured for his best friend to follow him, and as soon as he saw an unsure nod, the boy quickened his pace and took a sharp turn towards the right.

—_tap tap tap tap. _

Whoever the person was, the boy knew that they had to get away quickly_—_the fast-paced footsteps told him as much. He clenched his teeth and looked back, only to find a figure looming right behind them. The boy's red eyes had widened in alarm; they had to lose him soon, otherwise—

"_Run all you want, but we'll catch you no matter what." _

A shudder went down the boy's spine as the figure spoke. They soon entered a forest, and the boy silently thanked his luck. The forest was a fortunately luscious one—there were many trees and branches sticking out in odd places, which made running through it faster and easier for kids their size. He smirked when he heard a string of colourful words come out of the pursuer's mouth—his theory was right. With that information in mind, the child took many turns, while keeping an eye on his best friend at all times.

Soon after, the tapping of feet lessened, and gradually it had vanished after that. The boy slowed down to a stop, and after making sure that no one was in the area other than the three of them, he laid his sister carefully onto the ground.

"Are you alright?" the boy stroked the girl's hair.

The raven-haired girl managed a smile. "I'm fine—ankle's probably a little twisted, is all."

The boy nodded, and he heard his best friend's voice. "I think we should quickly find somewhere to stay for the night first, at least."

"You're right." The boy stood up and scanned the area. "I'll go look; stay here."

"But—"

The boy whipped around and ran away. He didn't want to hear any protests; the two of them were already tired as it was and he was supposed to be his duty to protect them, anyway. It was what he decided ever since he knew of the situation they were in. The boy never thought that he would have to experience something like this at the age of nine, but now that it happened, he decided that he would just have to survive it.

_Run away, and live. Run away, and there'll be hope. _

The red-eyed boy was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't realised the sound of approaching feet. And when he did, the boy quickly made a run for it—no matter how young he was; it still was the survival of the fittest. He darted around, trying to look for a place to hide, but unfortunately he had wandered into a portion of the forest that barely had any trees. The child cursed at the situation he was in now—where could he go?

_Run. No matter what, just run. _

_Even if you get caught, keep trying. _

And so he did. The boy heard the footsteps coming onto him fast, and he started to lose that little flicker of hope he had held when they had started running—hope that they would escape, alive and together. The boy paused in his tracks, looking around frantically for a place to hide, but to no avail. Shit, of all times, why now? The boy spotted a thicker part of the forest right in the front, and his body instinctively moved—

Only to be held back by a strong, rough force.

"Told you that I'd catch 'ya, didn't I?"

_Run, and there'll be hope. _

The boy took a sharp intake of breath, before he felt a hand clamp over his mouth. The child tried to run and struggle free from the man's grasp, but it was all no use.

"_Welcome to the company, Natsume—_

There was no hope for him now.

"—_or should I say, the unlucky experiment number thirteen?" _

It was the end of hope.

For him, anyway.

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**A/N:** Alright, I know it's probably a really easy guess to who the characters were, but... if you can guess who the characters are (including Mr. Mysterious), I'd dedicate the next chapter to you. And don't worry, I'll reply your reviews ^^

Right, so if you think my story idea's pretty interesting, or if you spot any mistakes, please do drop me a** review. :3** I'd really love that, ne?

Sooooo... **REVIEW!** XD (Lol how do I get the energy at 1.32AM in the morning, after studying chem for an entire day O.O Oh man I'm weird.)

_**Review reply to mysterious review: **You got the first three guesses right, but oooh. The last one's not Persona ): Don't worry, the story's not dark like rape and blah, but more like mysterious and has lots of plot twists and stuff—nothing seriously depressing though, unlike Blindfold (my other story). The next chapter will reveal more things, so stay around, ne? Anyway thanks for 'hating' my prologue! :D_


	2. Escapes to Reality

**A/N:** Righttttt. So here's the REAL opening to the story, 'Fate's Experiment'. It introduces some of the major characters, but not all yet. Next chapter will have more ^^ Anyway, I've dropped alot of hints here and there in the chapters, so see if you can spot them :D On a side note, my exams are finally OVERRRRRR. Yes, officially. (Although I have a feeling I screwed up my chinese paper, but what the heck. I have 5 days to slack before I get it back XD) Alright, so without any further ado, here's chapter one!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gakuen Alice.

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**Fate's Experiment **

_By Rock-n-Round_

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**Experiment 1: ****Escapes to Reality**

_'Because we all have to escape sometimes.'_

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Sunlight shone through the windows, lighting up the workplace of Mikan Sakura. She leaned back into her seat and admired her work. Smiling, she let her eyes scan over the designs that she had been working on for the past three hours. The details, the colours, the patterns—it all seemed perfect to her. Needless to say, Mikan was satisfied and happy.

"Hey, Misaki-senpai," the brunette started, tucking a strand of her honey-brown hair behind her ear, "could you look over the designs for me?"

The redhead looked up from her work. "You're done already?" After receiving a nod from the younger girl, Misaki smiled warmly and motioned for the girl to come over. Mikan did so; and soon, she found herself being praised.

"This is some good work, Mikan. You're getting better at this every day." Red eyes looked over the pieces of work excitedly, "I'm sure the boss will love 'em!"

The brunette could not help but blush a little at her senpai's praise. "You think?"

"Yeah, of course. Our company's lucky to have fresh young talent like you." Mikan dipped her head in thanks to the statement, as Misaki looked up. "Are you going back home soon?"

"Well," Mikan tapped her fingers against her fair face, "Tsubasa did say he was going to pick me up." The brunette smirked, and leaned closer towards Misaki. "Are you excited, senpai?"

At that, the redhead reeled backwards in embarrassment. "What are you saying—"

"C'mon, don't deny it." Mikan wiggled her eyebrows, "I know you like him."

"No, you're just spouting—"

"The utmost truth?" Mikan raised an eyebrow, while Misaki said nothing. The two stared at each other, like how they usually would when they were arguing over something small. Soon, the brunette felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, and she was forced to tear her eyes away from the little staring contest she was having with Misaki. Mikan scowled when she saw the look of triumph on Misaki's face, but her face soon lit up when she saw the person who had texted her.

_Be there in thirty, kouhai._

The brown-eyed girl snickered cheekily as her eyes locked with Misaki. Shoving her phone under Misaki's nose, she spoke.

"Speak of the devil, ne, Misaki-senpai?"

The redhead sighed. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and tease—"

"Oh Mikan, my wonderful little kouhai, your wonderful senpai has arrived!"

The two girls turned their attention to the man who stood at the door, and Mikan could not help but smile at his sudden entrance. Giggling, the brunette walked over to her table and quickly packed up her things.

"Ne, Tsubasa, 'be there in thirty' should mean 'be there in thirty minutes'; not thirty seconds, you know."

"I know," the navy-haired man smiled, "but I knew you'd know too."

High heels clicking, the brunette walked over to where Tsubasa stood at the doorway. Halfway through, she managed to shoot Misaki a mischievous glance. She saw the redhead give her a half-glare through her red face, before turning her gaze to Tsubasa. Mikan allowed her lips to form into a little smile, as she caught the man looking at the redhead as well.

"Let's go, Tsubasa. See you around, Misaki-senpai."

The redhead matched gazes with the younger girl. "Yeah, good work today, Mikan. See you tomorrow." Misaki gave a little wave as Mikan and Tsubasa smiled in response. Tsubasa turned to give one last glance at Misaki, before letting the door close. The two walked in silence for a moment, but Mikan soon decided to break it.

"Why don't you just confess already?"

The brunette turned to the older man next to her, and titled her head in question. Tsubasa looked down when she shot that question, his star-shaped mark twinkling in the sunlight as they exited the building.

"It isn't all that easy, Mikan." He looked up, eyes gazing forward. "As much as I want to, I shouldn't—it's dangerous."

Mikan let her eyes wander off to the wildflowers blooming at the sidewalk, as she recalled the day Tsubasa had been brought into the house. "I know, but. Won't it be best that you did so, anyway? I mean, given what we're doing, we could just disappear off the face of Earth the very next day." The girl stretched her arms in front of her, "It's better late than never."

The twenty-three-year-old closed his eyes and reopened them again. "You could be right. But, not right now. Persona has assigned us our next mission already."

Upon hearing that, the brunette raised her eyebrows. "Uncle Rei did? Well, it's about time. I've been asking him when the next one is, but he wouldn't tell me." The girl frowned at the memory of Persona lashing out at her when she had probed him too much. "He seems pretty upset about things these days. Any ideas of what it could be?"

The man scrunched up his features. "I don't know; _Mister P_ seems to be bitching about just about everything. The last time I screwed up his waffles—it wasn't pretty."

At that, Mikan chuckled. She had clearly remembered how furious Persona was when he saw the deformed waffle-bears on his plate that morning. She would never forget how terrified Tsubasa was, either.

"I guess so. But it does seem a little over the top recently."

Tsubasa merely shrugged. "We _could _always annoy the hell of out him and _make_ him tell us later. In fact, we could do that in just," the man looked at his wristwatch, "about another fifteen minutes on car."

Mikan giggled at his statement. "I like how you think, Tsubasa."

The man smiled. "Don't you always?"

* * *

Natsume Hyuuga shot up from his bed, forehead glistening with sweat. He buried his face into his hands, as the haunting images from _that_ night flashed repeatedly in his mind. When he decided that he was composed enough, he hesitantly turned his gaze to the younger boy who was beside him. The boy was awake now, Natsume noticed, as gray-blue eyes worriedly scanned his face.

"Nii-chan," the brown-haired boy started quietly, "are you fine now?"

Natsume managed a small smile, and ruffled the little boy's hair. "Yeah, Youichi. I'm okay now, so go back to sleep."

Youichi kept silent, unsure. After a moment, he relented and sighed. "Alright, I'll try. Nii-chan, you should sleep too—you have guard duty tomorrow night."

The red-eyed teen nodded in response to the boy's statement, and pulled the covers up so that Youichi would not be cold. Natsume sat on the bed in silence, watching the leaves sway in the wind through the little window in their room. He marveled about how fast time seemed to past by so quickly, and more importantly, how he had managed to live through every single _damned _day, not knowing whether his family or best friend was safe.

Natsume didn't expect himself to remain in this hell-hole for eleven long years; he had only convinced himself that it was because of the little one next to him. Youichi was like a little brother him, a second to the little sister he had. His heart just would not let him walk out of Youichi's life, ever since the day the little boy had been introduced to him as his apprentice—and experiment number fourteen, the one after him. Youichi was a quiet one, choosing to speak only was he saw fit and when he wanted to. Now that seven years have passed since Youichi's addition, the raven-haired boy decided that it was time.

It was time to break out of this crazy hell—this dark, psychopathic, _human-experimenting_, hell.

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"Hey, get up. We need to talk."

Nobara's eyes snapped open upon hearing the urgent tone behind the teen's harsh whisper. The girl blinked sleepily, soothing out her curly manes. "What is it, Thirteen?"

Natsume narrowed his eyes and looked sharply at her. "That's Natsume to you, _Nobara_."

"But—"

"And no buts," the raven-haired boy settled down next to Nobara in her bed, "I loathe that name. I don't care if we're breaking the rules, Nobara."

The blue-haired girl saw a sparkle of resentment in his eyes, and sighed. "Alright, Natsume—but we're only doing this in private." The girl glanced over his features, instantly noticing the amount of water that laced his features. "Are you alright? Did you have another nightmare?"

Natsume scowled a little at her. "Well, yeah, but that's not the point." The red-eyed teen lowered his voice down to a whisper. "I've decided that it's time."

Nobara's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "Y-you mean—"

"Yes. Tomorrow, I'll be on guard duty. It'll be the best time then."

The two remain silent for a moment, a feeling of discomfort filling the icy room. Nobara sighed softly and bit her lip. "Natsume," she started, hesitant, "I don't think I'll be joining you."

"_What?" _Natsume hissed, "We've been planning this since _forever _and you're backing out _now_? I've already said this just about a thousand times—if Twelve can do it, so can we."

The girl shook her head violently. "No, Natsume. It isn't about that." Nobara let her eyes stare at her creased bed sheets, "it's about Youichi."

Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously. "What about him?"

"He, well," gentle blue eyes looked up, "he keeps talking about some unknown '_nee-chan'_. I'm worried that Kuonji might have taken in another new experiment."

The boy furrowed his brows in thought. He recalled Youichi talking to him about _'nee-chan' _for quite some time now, probably about a year or so. He had always passed it off as a little boy's fantasies, but now that Nobara mentioned it, the idea did seem pretty plausible.

"Are you sure?"

There was a nod. "Youichi says that she has short raven hair, and that she has lost her memories—didn't say how, though."

Natsume frowned at the new-found information. "But that would mean that—"

"Yeah, I know. Youichi won't come with you no matter what you say." Nobara took his hands into hers, "But you need to go. You have a family out there waiting for you, and I don't. That's why I've decided to stay and protect the rest."

The boy scanned the girl's face. "Are you sure this is what you want? I could always put it off until—"

"No," Nobara said firmly, "don't even think about it. Guard duty's difficult to come by; you can't pass up an opportunity as big as that. No matter what, you're going to escape tomorrow."

Natsume gave her hands a little squeeze. "I'll come back to get all of you one day. You can count on that."

The blue-haired girl smiled, and nodded. "I'll be waiting for that day to come. Go back to your room now; we have a big day awaiting us tomorrow."

"Right," Natsume said as he rose from his position, "good night, Nobara."

"Good night. Sleep well, Natsume."

* * *

"So," the navy-haired man clicked his tongue, "what's the mission, _Mister P_?"

Persona looked up from the file, his eyes dark. "Do _not_ call me that, Tsubasa." He looked back down, "It's Persona to you."

"But that's not fair! Mikan gets to call you Uncle Rei, so I should call you something too, right?" Tsubasa glanced over at him hopefully.

"Wrong." And Tsubasa's hopes were crushed.

Seeing the deflated expression on the young man's face, Mikan laughed. "Uncle Rei, don't be so mean."

Persona shot her an exasperated look. "Not you too, Mikan. How could expect me to agree with that ridiculous excuse of a nickname?"

There was a snort of amusement from Tsubasa. "Then, what do you want me to call you? _Emo-prince?_"

Mikan stifled her laughter as glares were shot at the both of them.

"If you want to know about your next mission, you'd both jolly well shut up." A chorus of 'yes' was heard, and Persona motioned for the both of them to take a seat in front of him. "The company you'll be attacking this time is one that I have been searching for nine years—"

"Nine years?" Tsubasa asked, mild surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes, nine years. Don't interrupt me, Andou." The blue-eyed man looked down, effectively shutting his mouth. "So, as I was saying, the company is one that does experiments on _humans_."

Jaws opened in shock. "Human experiments?" Mikan wrinkled her nose, "that's… _disgusting_." The brunette thought that she saw Tsubasa visibly flinch at her words, but she passed it off as her own imagination.

"I know, Mikan. That's why you need to take down the boss of the company. Or, at least, try to."

Mikan leaned forward from her seat. "_Try to_? What do you mean by that?"

Persona leaned his face onto his fist. "This organisation's going to take some time to bring down. They've been known to constantly move around the country, and that's why it's difficult to track them down. I was already lucky enough to find them after all these years."

"Uh, and which company is this?" came the next question from Tsubasa.

"The Alice Organisation. The darkest, craziest company around."

At that, Tsubasa froze, and Mikan seemed to notice. "You alright, Tsubasa?"

The navy-haired man managed to give a wry smile. "Yeah, I'm good. When are we infiltrating them, anyway?"

"Well," Persona started, looking up in thought, "probably tomorrow. We have to do it soon, otherwise they'd move again."

The two nodded in understanding, albeit a little bit reluctantly in the case of Tsubasa. "I'll forward you the details tonight; we'll meet back here tomorrow, the usual time. You may go."

When the two didn't move, Persona repeated his statement. "I said, _you may go_."

Mikan smiled at Persona sheepishly, before speaking. "Uh, so, Uncle Rei. Mind telling us why you're feeling so irritable these days?" When she saw his eyes narrowing into a dangerous glare, Mikan threw in a couple of sentences like, "Not that you're irritating, though. I mean, _pssh_, you're not irritating."

Persona's lips formed a thin line.

"I'll tell you when the time comes. For now, just leave it be, alright?"

Seeing the look on her uncle's face, Mikan nodded slowly. "Alright. We'll be leaving now, Uncle Rei. Good bye."

Standing, she crossed the room towards the door, with Tsubasa tagging along behind the brunette. Closing the door behind her, she noticed that Tsubasa suddenly seemed really dull. His features were tense and his face was pale; his eyes were cast downwards and the way he walked seemed somewhat tired. He had _that _face again. Out of concern, Mikan tugged at his sleeves.

"Ne, something bothering you, Tsubasa?"

The young man blinked in surprise. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing, Mikan. Just thinking, is all."

Mikan stared at him, uncertain. "If you say so, I guess."

She wasn't convinced, but she didn't probe any further.

* * *

The very next morning, Natsume awoke with a feeling of uneasiness coursing through his veins. He had gotten through all his mundane routines—double-checking his schedules, looking at the list of to-kills, checking his heart rate, and even bitching straight in the leader's face. He had told Youichi about his plan to escape tonight as well, and had discussed with Nobara the escape plans and routes. But, he just couldn't shake off this feeling something big was going to happen tonight.

Okay, well, escaping was counted as something big, but that was not it.

With him thinking about so many things, night soon fell. The stars flecked the skies with its golden spark, and the moon illuminated the entire building. Natsume stood a little inside the building, observing the silence that penetrated the hallways.

"Coast clear on your side, Thirteen?" came the voice over his walkie-talkie, breaking the suffocating silence.

Natsume pressed the button on the device, and spoke into it. "Hn."

"…Okay, noted." The voice was unsure this time.

Natsume rolled his eyes, and looked around outside the window for a clear path. Nobara mentioned that there was a hard-to-see road somewhere outside the building, where he could easily run and escape from. It would lead him to the main road, she said. Natsume wanted to turn around and look straight outside the window, but any big movements would be noticed by his _'friend'_ a hallway down from his, and his plans would all be ruined if that happened. Crimson eyes tried to capture an image from the corner of his eyes, but he soon got tired.

The boy groaned inwardly. Escaping was not going to be easy without a distraction.

* * *

Mikan crouched down, outfit blending (somewhat fashionably) into the dark woods. Next to her was Tsubasa, perched onto the same tree branch, and dressed in a similar fashion.

"Damn, security is as tight as ever…" Mikan heard Tsubasa mumble to himself. The brunette silently wondered what Tsubasa meant, but decided to play along with him anyway.

"Yeah, it sure is." Mikan whispered back. "How are we supposed to get in?"

The two kept silent, observing how the building below them seemed to stand so still in the moonlight. The rustling of leaves was brought about by some wind, and Mikan soon decided that it was better to have her hair up in a ponytail—less mess, and easier movement.

Tying her hair up with a black ribbon, she watched as the guards switched positions. "We need to create a distraction," she heard Tsubasa speak in a low voice; "it's the only way we can possibly get in." The brunette nodded, urging the man to continue, "It'd be better to create a major distraction outside the building instead of on it."

Mikan nodded in understanding. "So what're going to do, then?"

The girl watched as Tsubasa pulled out a small round item from his pouch. When she realised what it was, her eyes widened. "Uncle Rei's special mini-bombs? The one that was supposedly—"

"Small but powerful, I know. He's totally going to kill me for stealing these precious things, but it's lucky I did. Otherwise we'd have to abort this mission." Tsubasa smiled as he pulled out a couple more. "You ready to do this? Need to go over the plan once again?"

"No," the girl shook her head, "let's just get this over with."

"Right," Tsubasa nodded, and started counting down.

_Three._

_Two. _

_One. _

A loud explosion sounded, and guards could be seen running towards the source of the commotion. The two figures that disappeared from the tree branches swiftly made their way towards the entrance of the building.

Their mission had begun.

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**A/N:** So how was it? Was it unfortunately boring? Was it okay? I dunno, maybe it's because I took six hours to get it all down into words. I don't usually take that long, it must be the after-exam shock getting to me :O Hah, well, I'm trying to improve my writing to bring y'all better written fanfictions, so please guide me ^^ Oh, right. It's 3000 words plus long; I actually wanted to write it longer, but I found that if I did, it would mean that I might fall asleep on my computer XD

Right, so anyway, how about a **review? :3** Thanks for reading, by the way!

_P.S. No one won the dedication in the prologue. The dedication thingy is still up, though! (: That is, if you can guess it all right._

_P.S.S. Oh right, I've edited this chapter; added a little portion after reading it; it's at the bottom when Tsubasa mumbles to himself. I'm not sure if any of you readers misunderstood, but Mikan isn't supposed to know about Tsubasa's little secret. I also changed the number of years—Natsume and Mikan are both twenty, Tsubasa and Misaki are twenty-three, and Youichi is fifteen. _


	3. Fates Intertwined

**A/N:** Hey all, I'm sorry this took longer than I expected; I ain't that good with describing battle scenes and wordless action, so here's my attempt ^^ Anyway, this chapter's really action packed, so I hope you like it! Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter, too. KidTantei, this chapter's for you! (Because you didn't reply my review reply! And DeadlySilentAnimeLover, please tell me what you want as well) Without further ado, here's the second part!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gakuen Alice.

_**Chapter dedicated to:** KidTantei_

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**Fate's Experiment **

_By Rock-n-Round_

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**Experiment 2: ****Fates Intertwined**

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Natsume turned his head sharply, shocked at the sudden explosion. Several thoughts entered his mind at once.

_What happened? _

_Who caused this? _

_Is it safe to escape now?_

_Will anyone be suspicious?_

He darted his eyes around, taking in the scene before him. Soldiers and some of his fellow experiments were already running about, approaching the source of the noise, while some others were reporting the situation to headquarters. Natsume was the only one who stood rooted to the ground, contemplating on what to do. He had hoped for a distraction, and now he got one. It was better now than never, the lad supposed.

_Run. _

And so he did. Natsume dashed through the hallways, dodging any people blocking his way. Everyone probably assumed that he was running towards the source of the noise, for they merely stepped aside and let him go. A part of him was thankful for the explosion, but another part of him wondered who had set it off. Will the people who had done so stop him? Or were they trying to help him?

Natsume didn't know. He didn't know the answer to any of his own questions, and he didn't know what was going to happen to him in the new future. But even so, he just kept running.

_Run away, and live. __Run, and there'll be hope._

* * *

Mikan sprinted along the corridors, with Tsubasa close behind her. The pair had encountered a couple of enemies before, but they were all no match for their years of experience as a spy. The girl stopped at a corner, eyes searching for a place that led upstairs. After a couple of moments, she gave up; all the doors were identical and there was no signboards whatsoever which told her where was where. She glanced at Tsubasa, who nodded in response.

They would take the windows.

Mikan found a window at a corner, and Tsubasa did some quick work attaching a hooked rope to the windowsill a floor up. The brunette hoisted herself up, and yanked the window open with a crowbar. She jumped inside the building first, crouching down as soon as her feet touched the floor, and scanned the area for any enemies. The coast was clear; and so she signaled for Tsubasa to come up.

The two of them crept along the hallways, and Tsubasa paused at a corner. He now took the lead, motioning for Mikan to stop as well with a palm. The man backed against the wall, and strained his ears to hear any sounds. Unconsciously, he withdrew his dagger from under his black sleeves, as he heard a voice coming from around the corner. Mikan followed his actions, taking her gun from her thigh-band.

"No intruders in hallway B02-12, over," a deep voice said, and there was a grunt coming from the walkie-talkie he had in hand.

Tsubasa inched out of his hiding place and ran forward in a flash, effectively catching the enemy off-guard as he plunged his dagger into the man's stomach. Pulling out, he nodded to the girl as a signal that it was now safe. The pair continued and turned in a corner, entering an empty area.

Mikan gasped in awe. The area was _huge_. It was spacious with a high ceiling, and the other floors overlooked it. Mikan supposed this was where they did battle-training or any other training for that matter—it was just that big. Tsubasa did not show any reaction of any sort, and continued moving stealthily across the spacious area. Mikan looked up, walking at a considerably slowly pace as compared to Tsubasa. She counted the number of floors in the building from the level they were in—there were probably another ten floors of so to the building.

Just as she was about to follow Tsubasa, she spotted a couple of figures emerging from the floor above theirs. Her eyes widened; the enemies must have been silently monitoring their movements—the number of people increased from one to around eleven. The girl cursed silently, heart racing as she lunged forward towards Tsubasa and screamed, "Tsubasa, above you!"

The man quickly snapped his head up, jumping backwards in one fluid movement as the enemies dropped down one by one from the floor above. Mikan caught up with Tsubasa, and they were quickly cornered by the eleven men.

The two were back to back, weapons unsheathed. Both eyed the enemies with an intense glare, daring them to make the first move. Seconds later, a man on Mikan's right dashed forward. The girl aimed her gun in his direction, shooting at his leg. This triggered off the two-to-eleven fight, as the men launched themselves from all directions.

* * *

Natsume stopped at a corner, confused at the people who were running against the flow. The exit was on the other side of the building; so why were people running in the opposite direction? He furrowed his brows and decided to follow them just this one time out of curiosity. The lad followed the soldiers to the viewing deck that overlooked the training area, eyebrows raised as some of them started climbing over the railings and descending to the space beneath them.

When all of them had disappeared below, Natsume walked out and peered over the edge. There, he saw a group of eleven soldiers cornering two figures clad in a black suit—one female, and the other, male. Natsume thought that the man, who had navy-blue hair, looked vaguely familiar. He continued watching, impressed at the two anonymous people who had easily brought down one or two of their men.

He smirked, as he leaned his elbows onto the railings.

* * *

Mikan knew that they were greatly outnumbered, and that they were fighting a losing battle. She dodged another one of the enemy's attacks, and hit him in the head with her gun. Another attack came from her right, but she was too slow to dodge it this time. Mikan felt a sharp pain invading her sides, as she hunched over and crumpled to the ground. Tsubasa noticed this and quickly came to her aid, taking down three other enemies on his way. He bit his lip, eyebrows furrowed in focus as he tried his hardest to keep the enemies from attacking the already injured girl.

"Mikan, run; go finish the mission!" he hissed through his teeth.

Mikan winced as she picked herself up, shaking her head. "No, I'm not leaving you here alone!" She said as she kicked another man in the stomach.

Tsubasa dodged another man's attacks, and then another; and soon he felt something pierce into his arm. He held his arm in pain, blood pouring out from his wound. He hissed at the throbbing pain, and he felt his heart squeeze when he saw Mikan fly three feet from where he was. _Shit,_ he cursed inwardly. At this rate, they were definitely going to be dead if they didn't escape. But, this was an important mission; they couldn't afford to fail.

The navy-haired man fought on as he weighed the number of possibilities he had in his mind. There was no other choice, he soon decided. He would have to use _it_.

Tsubasa saw a man coming towards Mikan with a sword, and he quickly threw himself and shielded the girl. Time seemed to stop as Mikan felt someone's arms wrapped tightly around her, and she shut her eyes tightly, fearing for the worst, However, no pain came. Mikan opened her eyes slowly, and took in the scene before her. The enemies in front of her were all frozen, yet they were still alive and conscious.

_This can't be happening,_ Mikan thought. _Everyone's not moving at all. It's like time has stopped. _

She turned her attention to the man that was holding her. Tsubasa's eyes were fixed on the enemies, but as soon as he noticed the girl staring at him, wide-eyed, he managed to give a small smile and said, "Don't worry, Mikan, I'll take care of these punks. I'll catch up later, ne? Now, go."

Mikan could only nod numbly and stray off, still dumbfounded from the event just now. Tsubasa watched as his comrade disappeared from a corner, and sighed.

_His secret was out. _

Slowly, he stood up, eyes hard as he glared intently at the people in front of him. He smirked at their frightened faces, and removed his hand from his wound.

Through the blood and ripped sleeves, one could faintly make out the letters _XII_ on his arm.

* * *

Crimson eyes widened, as Natsume slowly backed away from the railing. Not long after, the boy broke out into a run and continued on his way. He took the stairs one level down, turning at a corner. As Natsume ran along the hallways, he thought about what he had witnessed just now. There was definitely no doubt about it—it was the Shadow Manipulation Alice; the man he saw just now was none other than number Twelve.

Natsume had not personally met Twelve, for he had left a little bit after Natsume's arrival to the Alice Organisation. Nobara had shown him a couple of pictures of Twelve though; she told Natsume that they had been pretty close friends before, and that they had actually planned to escape together as well. However, Nobara felt that it was necessary for her to stay behind and protect Natsume—she urged Twelve to leave, just like how she had with Natsume.

Shaking his head to clear off any more stray thoughts, Natsume took in a deep breath, and concentrated on escaping. If he were to make it out here just as he thought he would, then he would have to focus.

* * *

Mikan stumbled into yet another corridor. She let out a huff of annoyance. Just how many corridors were there anyway? Kneeling down, she searched her pouch for her X-ray glasses. Once she felt her fingers brushed past the item, Mikan activated it and quickly put it on. Scanning the surroundings, she found that the staircase was actually only just behind her, and that there was a figure approaching the place she was in.

Putting the glasses back inside her pouch, the brunette carefully withdrew her gun and backed herself against the wall, awaiting the arrival of the figure. Mikan decided that it was best to "ask" for directions to headquarters, instead of just aimlessly darting about random hallways.

As soon as she saw a tuft of raven-hair appear from the corner, the girl jumped out from her hiding place, gun aimed straight at the enemy's nose.

* * *

Natsume wasn't surprised when he saw someone jumping out before him. He had long noticed that there was someone here, which was precisely why he entered the corridor, anyway. He kept his eyes trained on the girl, his face emotionless as he gazed forward.

"So," the girl started, voice smug, "where's headquarters?"

Natsume chucked his hands into his pockets. "And I should tell you why?"

The brunette inched the gun closer toward his face. "Because I have a gun pointed at your nose and if you don't reply, it ain't going to be pretty."

The lad merely smirked in reply, as the girl's hazel eyes narrow dangerously. "Are you _asking _to be killed?"

Ruby eyes closed, as Natsume thought about what he was going to do. The girl was clearly a spy trying to overthrow damned Kuonji; so Natsume didn't really mind it—if she managed to do it, Nobara, Youichi and the others would all be free from the twisted man's grasp. Reopening his eyes, he spoke.

"I could tell you the location if you want," Natsume raised his eyebrows, daring the girl to prompt him further.

The girl's lips formed a thin line, and her eyes squinted in suspicion. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing," the lad replied, brushing the girl's gun away from his face, "just the satisfaction of watching this sick company falling into ashes—that is, if you have the ability to do that single-handedly." Natsume closed his eyes again, and reopened them. "And I highly doubt that you can."

He watched in amusement as the girl's face contorted into many different emotions—anger, surprise, and suspicion. The brunette put away her gun warily, and mumbled, "Highly doubt that I can?" The girl let out a disbelieving snort, "That strong, huh?"

.

The boy before her gave a swift nod. "He's mad, I assure you. You could only bring him down if you had an army full of experienced spies, maybe. Or perhaps twenty experiments."

Mikan folded her arms. "Experiments?" There was a moment of silence, before she opened her mouth to question, "What exactly are experiments any—"

The girl didn't get to finish her sentence, for a troop of around twenty soldiers suddenly appeared, surrounding the two of them.

"Crap, I let my guard down for a second and this _shit _happens." Mikan heard the boy mutter, as she pointed her gun towards the enemy. The brunette let her hazel eyes scan the area; they were far too outnumbered, so they had no choice but to escape. However, there weren't any windows in view, so the best escape route would have to be the stairways. The lad, whose back was facing her, must have been having the same thoughts as Mikan, for the next thing he said was, "When I give the signal, head for the staircase behind you."

Mikan nodded in affirmation to his statement, and prepared herself for his signal.

"Now!"

The hallways suddenly burst into flames, rendering Mikan a tad bit surprised; but she still managed to run as the lad had instructed her to. She shot a couple of enemies down on the way, knowing that they would be pursued later on. The raven-haired boy did the same thing, except that he did it using his fists and foot. Together, the pair raced down the stairs at breakneck speed, closely chased by a few of the remaining soldiers who had survived the sudden outburst of flames earlier on. Mikan still did not understand what had happened just now—both with the enigma that was by her side now, and with Tsubasa earlier on—but Mikan figured that it could wait.

For now, the most important thing was for them to escape.

* * *

Tsubasa took out all of the enemies ten minutes after Mikan left. He decided to that it would be best to escape on his own first, considering the amount of injuries he had received. He had known all along that they wouldn't be able to defeat the Alice Organisation all in one day; it was practically impossible to overthrow them with just Mikan and him—it would be suicide to do so. Tsubasa clutched his left arm with his right, and staggered down the hallways to where he remembered the stairs was located.

As he approached, he noticed that the hallways were charred a soot black colour, and there were a couple of bodies lying around. Tsubasa silently wondered which experiment had done all this; he did not recall any experiments with a fire-related Alice. The man shrugged to himself, wincing as he made his way down the stairs at an agonizingly slow pace. He was pretty sure that Mikan had come down this way—there was the occasional blood splotches on the floor and there had been a couple of bodies, unconscious, along the way.

When the blue-eyed man reached the first level, he sighed in relief and made his way out of the building as quickly as possible. Just as the moonlit trees came into view, Tsubasa smiled a little to himself. He staggered out of the building and towards the empty path where Mikan and he had agreed to meet in the case where they were separated.

Tsubasa collapsed onto the ground, sides heaving. He cast his eyes forward, looking at the star-filled skies.

It was such as pity that they had to do this mission tonight, Tsubasa soon realised—the stars were so pretty, like golden glitter scattered on a piece of black paper.

Tsubasa decided that it was a perfect night for stargazing.

* * *

Mikan watched as the boy set up yet another wall of fire, big enough to scare off any brave souls from running through it. Panting, she felt the boy pull her along the hallways, wordlessly leading her. She silently wondered whether the boy was trying to escape from this building; he had been helping her all this time, and yet she didn't know anything about him. Mikan didn't even know whether or not it was safe to trust him, but she did so anyway. She figured that taking a risk would be better than getting killed back when the troops cornered them.

Turning her attention back to reality, Mikan suddenly noticed the tattoo that was printed on the back of the boy's neck. _XIII_, it said. That was the number thirteen. Mikan furrowed her brows, not understanding what it meant. She recalled seeing a similar tattoo on Tsubasa's right arm, though. Mikan decided to ask about it later; for now, she would concentrate of getting all three of them to a safe place. Soon, the entrance of the building came into view. When they finally stumbled out of the building, Mikan spotted a figure lying crumpled on the ground, outlined by the moonlight. Mutely, she tugged at the boy's sleeve, pulling him across the clearing to where her comrade lay, motionless.

"Tsubasa," Mikan softly called out as they sat down beside the man, "can you hear me?"

The man's eyes slowly opened, revealing azure orbs. He slowly got up, wincing as he removed his right arm from his left. "Oh, hey, Mikan," Tsubasa smiled faintly, "are you alright? Hurt anywhere?"

Mikan shook her head. "No, not much. We should get back now; you're badly injured and I won't have you dying."

Tsubasa laughed weakly. "Nah, I won't die. I'm still up on my own, see?"

The brunette merely smiled back to him, as she slung the man's left arm over her shoulders. "Hey, could you help me?" Mikan directed the question at the red-eyed lad sitting next to her. He grunted in response to the statement and stood up, walking to Tsubasa's right. Together, the two pulled Tsubasa up slowly, careful not to aggravate any of his injuries. The lad let Tsubasa lean onto him for support, and Mikan took his left arm to provide balance for Tsubasa.

The three walked down the empty path, and into the dense undergrowth before them. They did not speak to each other; all that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of insects and each other's soft breathing. Mikan mutely thought about what the night would bring them, and how they were going to face Persona when they arrived home. Not only had they somewhat failed the mission (somewhat for they had managed to take down quite a number of people from their army, and got quite a bit of knowledge to where everything was), they had also sustained some pretty serious injuries, and picked up a new companion along the way. She didn't know what Persona would say to this; he would probably blow up and tell the raven-haired boy to go home or something. Somehow, Mikan had a feeling that they boy hadn't had a home to return to.

Gazing at the boy, she noticed how his crimson eyes glinted in the light, and how his wind-swept hair framed his face. He was carelessly handsome, Mikan would admit; the kind of boy any regular girl would fall for. He looked somewhat lonely, eyes devoid of the usual light a teenager would have. She wondered about the cause for that; perhaps the boy was an experiment. Mikan didn't quite know what an experiment was, but she assumed that it had something to do with acquiring amazing superpowers of some sort—after all; the lad did boast quite an amazing fire power. She remembered how Tsubasa had managed to make time stop somehow, during the fight with those eleven men. Could it be possible that he was an experiment, too?

"Hey," Mikan suddenly said, breaking the silence of the night, "what's your name?"

There was momentary silence, before the lad spoke up. "For now, just call me Thirteen."

Mikan felt Tsubasa stiffen, and she wondered whether it was because of his injuries—or something else altogether. "Are you alright?"

The man slowly nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

Mikan's eyes narrowed a little, but she didn't question him any further. "So, Thirteen, mind telling us why you can't tell us your real name? We've already made ours known to you, so why can't you?"

The lad merely gazed forward, and replied simply. "I'll tell you when I trust you enough. So as much as I hate the damned name, call me Thirteen."

Mikan didn't reply, deciding to end the conversation then. Soon, the main road came into view, and all Mikan could think about was getting home.

* * *

**A/N:** So, how did I do? I don't know whether my words effectively described everything that was happening, so please do give me your feedback! I really appreciate my reviewers and those who showed interest in this story! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, too.

So, please tell me what you think! **Review, ne? :3**


	4. Revelation

**A/N:** Right, so. I know my updating has been slowly recently, and I'm sorry for that. I had three days of dance in a row, which killed me (I'm serious. My muscles are aching like a bitch). Enough of my excuses, here's the next chapter! Ooh, secrets are going to be revealed!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gakuen Alice. (Pssh, isn't that obvious?)

_**Chapter dedicated to:** DeadlySilentAnimeLover (:D) _

* * *

**Fate's ****Experiment **

_By Rock-n-Round_

* * *

**Experiment 3****: Revelation**

* * *

Natsume gritted teeth as he felt a familiar sharp pain attack his head. He wanted very much to squat down in the middle of the road and puke his intestines out, but he couldn't quite do that for he was helping Twelve hobble feebly down a path alongside the brunette, Mikan. Doing so would draw too much attention from these two strangers, too.

The pain had started out as a dull throbbing at first; and so he didn't think much of it. However, as time went by, the pain seemed to increase considerably. Perhaps, he had used his Alice too much just now. It had been quite some time since he used it—as soon as Kuonji had found out he was just another one of his failed experiments, he did not need to use his Fire Alice as much—which was pretty much good news, Natsume supposed. The lad pressed his lips into a thin line, attempting to stop the bile from rising up his throat. Natsume focused his eyes on the path they were walking on, sweat pouring down his forehead as he tried to keep an emotionless mask on.

The man beside him turned to face Natsume, probably noticing that he was acting pretty oddly. "Hey, you're pretty hot."

Natsume kept his gaze forward, and he heard Mikan give a little snort. "Are you gay or something?"

Tsubasa shook his head. "No. I meant it literally." The man stopped in his tracks, and paused to feel Natsume's neck. "Thirteen, you're burning up."

Crimson eyes remained dull and bored. "It's nothing."

The three of them remained silent for a moment, before Tsubasa broke it. "Side-effects, kid?" Natsume understood what the man was asking, and he gave a brief nod in response to his question. The man sighed. "C'mon, the sooner we get back, the better. My muscles are aching like a bitch."

They trudged further down, until a small maroon house appeared a little after a large field of wildflowers. They paused, silent as they stared at the building before them.

"What're we going to tell Uncle Rei about Thirteen, Tsubasa?" The question came in a whisper from Mikan's lips.

"Well," Tsubasa closed his eyes, mind searching his thoughts, "I'm little too tired to think properly, but I think it'd be best if we don't tell him about Thirteen yet. He'd flip out." The man reopened his eyes. "Remember that puppy we brought back after that one mission? It's going to be like that."

Natsume's eyes narrowed. "You're comparing me to a freaking puppy?"

"If you put it that way, then yes." Tsubasa smirked a little.

The raven-haired lad rubbed his temples. "I already don't like you."

"Don't have to," the blue-eyed man easily countered. "'Sides, I'm not going to be seeing much of you."

Mikan snapped her head up into his direction. "_What? _What do you mean by that, huh?"

Tsubasa urged the other two to move forward with a little jerk. The pair complied, helping him up the porch and through the doors of the house. Once the three was settled onto the couch, Tsubasa spoke. "He's going to stay at your place, Mikan."

Mikan almost dropped the first aid kit that she was holding on to. "_What?"_ The girl's voice was laced with disbelief, "But, why?"

"As you can see," Tsubasa gestured towards himself, "I'm in no condition to be providing for another person. And, my house is just next doors to the headquarters, if you hadn't noticed. Persona will find out about Thirteen quickly if he stays at my place."

Natsume listened intently to the conversation, eyes closed to ease his headache. Really, all he wanted was to escape. He hadn't really thought far about it; he had actually intended to live on the streets and maybe do a little street performance to earn some quick cash for food and water. He had not calculated the chances of people infiltrating on the day he was to escape, but somehow, he felt grateful that he had met these people. They didn't seem to hold any ill intentions, seeing that one of them was the famous escaped experiment himself.

The raven-haired lad heard the girl complain. "But Thirteen's a guy, and I'm a girl!"

Natsume opened an eye. "It's not like I'm going to rape you—I'm not interested."

Putting the first aid kit down onto the floor, the girl pulled out a towel and went into the washroom to get a basin. Natsume watched as she filled up the container with lukewarm water, muttering some nonsense about "flat", "unattractive" and "stupid".

"Fine." Mikan said when she returned, "but we're setting down some rules." She dunked the towel into the basin, soaking the white cloth up with water. Lightly dabbing it onto Tsubasa's wounds, she continued. "Firstly, no one must know you're at my place. If anyone comes over, you have to hide. Even you if you do get caught, make up something. Secondly, you have to find a job—" Natsume raised his brow a little at this, "—because I won't have a freeloader in my house. Thirdly, if Persona wants us dead because of this, _you_," the brunette glared hard at Tsubasa, pressing a little harder onto his wounds for emphasis, "are to hold the responsibility. And lastly," the girl placed the now blood-soaked towel back into the basin, and let her eyes fall into Natsume. "I expect you to trust us."

Natsume sat up, ignoring his protesting body. He rolled his eyes. "_Hello,_ I trusted you enough to follow you all the way here, didn't I?"

"Sure you did. But," Mikan matched his eyes, "you didn't trust us enough to give your name."

The lad paused, casting his gaze away from the girl. "Unless you've been through what I have, you wouldn't understand."

Brief silence followed for a moment. Natsume noticed how Mikan shuffled nervously, knowing that she had brought up a touchy subject. Tsubasa sighed as his eyes glazed over with memories. "Yeah, kid. I can empathise." Blue eyes met his red ones, "Tell me, Thirteen. What exactly are you doing, escaping like that?"

The boy did not break eye contact with Tsubasa, soundlessly contemplating on whether to tell them about his situation or not. "Family," Natsume replied simply after a while, "I need to find them."

"Any leads?" Tsubasa probed further.

Slowly, the lad shook his head. "I lost contact with them eleven years ago; I don't even know whether they're dead or alive."

Tsubasa clicked his tongue. "That's going to tough—"

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious."

"—but maybe we can help you. We have access to a lot of information, just so you know." Tsubasa finished, ignoring Natsume's interruption. The raven-haired lad looked like he was deep in thought, with his head resting on an open palm. Mikan's eyebrows furrowed, not exactly comprehending their conversation.

"We hardly know him, Tsubasa." The brunette started, "How could you offer something like that—"

"Because I'm been there, Mikan." Tsubasa turned his attention to the girl, "I'm one of those human experiments myself."

Mikan sat on the floor, dazed at the sudden confession. Gradually, the information sunk into her, and she hesitantly spoke up. "What exactly happen to these human experiments, anyway?"

"We attain some sort of power called an Alice," it was Natsume who replied, "and that power is suited according to your personality. It ain't exactly nice living as a human experiment, having to bear with shit every day; many suffer from the side-effects of having an Alice, though they vary from person to person."

Mikan remained quiet for a moment, before the next question came. "So what happens during experimentation?"

Tsubasa sighed and looked away. "They put you on a metal table, inject you with a drug, and then they leave you to deal with the pain yourself. Some have died from it, while others suffer deformities, because it does drastic changes to your body and its DNA."

_Some have died from it. _Natsume let the words sink into his mind. Died. Died, died—

…

_Nine-year-old Natsume tiptoed, wondering what was on the other side of the door. He was pretty sure __it wasn't going to be anything pleasant, at the very least, with all the screaming that was penetrating the tense silence. Through the little window on the door, Natsume managed to look into the room next to his. _

_Inside, there was a boy, perhaps around two to three years older than he was. He was almost completely naked, violently writhing around a metal table and screaming loudly. His blonde hair was drenched in his own sweat, features contorting in pain. Blood was pouring from different areas of his body, and his chest looked like it was about to burst; something was forming from his stomach, much like how a baby grew in a mother's womb. The _thing_ was punching around inside his stomach—it was disgusting and utterly disturbing. _

_Natsume wanted to tear his eyes off the image in front of his, but he just couldn't bring himself to. He was rooted to the ground, eyes glued in horror to the image of the poor boy before him. He watched helplessly as the boy slowly stopped resisting, the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest gradually decreasing until he stopped completely. _

_At that time, the boy's head lulled to the side, towards Natsume. Crimson eyes widened as they matched with the lifeless eyes of the boy. His kind brown eyes were now devoid of life. _

_They were s__till, soulness, and cold. _

_Terrified, tortured, and lost. _

_His eyes were d__ead. _

"_Subject thirteen A, Kaname Sono, dead. Reason, stress overload on his body. Experiment declared as failed."_

_The boy was dead._

_And Natsume Hyuuga witnessed his death. _

…

"Thirteen? Thirteen! Answer me, you're scaring us."

Natsume could not hear anything. The figures in front of him swirled, but he could vaguely make out a pair of familiar brown eyes staring back at him. _Kaname Sono, I'm sorry._

All he could remember was a mixture of blood and bile spewing out of his mouth and alarmed shouts reaching his ears before he completely let the darkness take over him.

* * *

A blonde boy sat on a chair, contentedly sipping on his caramel macchiato as he watched his girlfriend sauntering over to him. Through her composed exterior, the lad could actually tell that she was fed up with something—her knuckles gripped the slings of her bag so tightly that they had turned white.

"What's the matter, Hotaru?"

Amethyst eyes met with blue ones. "How'd you know I have something on my mind?"

"I am your boyfriend, after all," Ruka replied with a light smile, "so tell me, what's wrong?"

The girl huffed. "It's that stupid best friend of mine again. She doesn't tell me anything about that spy job of hers even though I already know about it. She's taking a damn long time to come out with the truth, that idiotic nincompoop; thinks she won't worry me by hiding everything from me. Well, haven't she thought that I'd worry more if she hadn't told me _anything_ at all? Haven't she thought that I'd find out? I mean, I install cameras in her apartment—"

"Woah, cameras?" The lad put down his cup, "Isn't that intruding on her privacy?"

There was silence, before a short reply came. "I have a couple in yours, too."

Ruka gave an awkward chuckle to this statement. "Uh, right. Anyway, maybe your friend just needs time."

"Well, I've given her plenty of that," came the curt response from Hotaru. Ruka sighed as he took another sip of his drink. "But enough of me, Ruka—I know something's eating you—and it has been, for a really long time."

"What are you talking about?" Ruka kept a straight face, trying to feign ignorance.

"You jolly well know what, Ruka. I've given you enough time, too. If you haven't noticed, your girlfriend's a technological genius. I can break into any website or information source—and get away uncaught." She leaned into the table, resting her head on her hands, "Out with it, now."

The lad cast his eyes onto the floor, staring at his feet. Fiddling with his fingers which were resting on the table, he spoke. "I, well, have a best friend—you know, the one that I said reminded me of you? He's been missing for eleven years already, and I still can't find him. His sister disappeared, too, a couple of years after him. I've been searching for all these years, but still no clue. None at all. I really don't want to admit this, but," he sighed at he buried his head into his hands, "I'm starting to lose hope."

Silence hung over the table for a moment, before Hotaru nodded. "Just as I suspected, then."

Ruka's eyebrows shot up. "You mean you knew?"

"All along. If you tell me who he is, I could dig out some information for you."

Ruka remained silent, eyes wide in disbelief. His blue eyes started to awaken with new-found hope, simmering slightly as he looked up to match Hotaru's gorgeous amethyst eyes.

"Natsume," Ruka managed to croak out after some time. He cleared his throat once again, and repeated himself more clearly. "His name is Natsume Hyuuga."

* * *

Natsume felt hot and cold at the same time. He could feel the heat that he was emitting off, but yet he was freezing cold, his body shivering in agreement. The cooling washcloth on his forehead didn't help, either. He let his head tilt to the side, hoping that the cold object would slip off, but a warm hand held it in place.

"Don't do that, Thirteen," a voice lightly scolded, "You need it to cool off."

For a split second, he thought that the person on his bedside was Nobara. However, he soon decided against it when he opened his eyes. The room was dimly-lit, and it looked and felt foreign to him. There was also a brunette looking down worriedly on him. _Oh right,_ he suddenly remembered, _I escaped._ The red-eyed lad looked around the room, noting the absence of Tsubasa.

"Where's Twelve?"

"Twelve?" Mikan's voice was confused, "Oh, you mean Tsubasa? I sent him to the hospital for stitches; we already dropped by Uncle Rei's just now and reported our mission status to him. He didn't look angry, but he wasn't too pleased either." She removed the cloth on his forehead to check his temperature, "your temperature's already down, but you still have a little fever. You'd probably be fine tomorrow. Think you can stomach some broth?"

Natsume faintly made out the brunette pointing to a bowl on the table next to his bed with his bleary eyes, and he nodded slowly. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast this morning, and honestly, the lad was feeling hungry. When the bowl was offered to him, Natsume reached out to it, only to miss the bowl by inches. Hissing in embarrassment, he tried to focus his eyes and grab the bowl again. Mikan furrowed her brows in worry as she saw this, and laid her hand atop of his, and pushed it away.

"Here, I'll feed you."

Natsume scowled. "I know I'm sick and all," he rasped, "but I'm not a baby. I can manage."

Mikan shook her head in disapproval. "Sure doesn't look like it to me. Just stop it and let me feed you before you starve to death, alright?"

"No."

The brunette sighed. "So you're one of those ego maniacs?"

"Well," the lad frowned a little, head turning away, "I'm _sorry _if I am, but that's just what you get for living a hell-hole where it's the survival of the fittest."

Mikan caught her tongue. She just stepped on another landmine; she had to be careful with her words. "But," she drawled out, balancing the bowl on her lap, "you have Tsubasa and me to depend on from now onwards. We'll help you."

She heard the boy snort. "Twelve? Don't think so," he faced his ceiling, "You?" There was a pause. Mikan raised a brow, "What about me?"

"I don't know you well enough to decide."

"Are you," the girl tilted her head in question, "hitting on me?"

Ruby eyes rolled. "Think what you like—"

"Aha!" Mikan snapped her fingers, "So you _were _hitting on me. Didn't know you had it in you, Thirteen."

Natsume shrugged. "I've been through some missions that require sexual appeal for information, but I—"

"Hey, same here!" The brunette suddenly seemed delighted, "Who knew we had so much in common?"

"We don't. And I wasn't hitting on you, ugly. I wonder how you manage to make it through those missions with your low sex appeal." Natsume gave an uninterested look to Mikan, who stared back disbelievingly at him, jaws hanging in surprise.

"Did you just insult me?"

Natsume smirked. "Yes I did, if you were too dumb to realise."

The girl gritted her teeth in anger, roughly banging the bowl of broth back onto the bedside table. She stood abruptly, and Natsume noticed for the first time since he awoke how skimpily she was dressed at that moment—she was clad only in a giant shirt that reached her mid-thigh, and if you were lying down like Natsume was, you could see what was underneath the—

Not that Natsume really bothered, anyway.

"Polka-dots. Interesting choice, little girl."

At that, the brunette's face became blank. Then, it slowly contorted into anger, with a bright red colour slowly making its way towards her ears. _How cute_, Natsume thought, smirking.

"Hey, Polka. If I had known how fun you were to tease, I would've done that the first time I met you and all the way back into your house."

Mikan was visibly seething in anger. "It's lucky you didn't, because I would have done this—" the girl slapped him square across the cheek, taking Natsume by surprise, "—and then left you. I wouldn't have brought you back, watched you faint, treated your wounds and sat by your bedside for four hours straight into the night just to treat you." She let out an angered and annoyed huff, "I hate you, you—" the brunette stopped mid-sentence, searching for the right words, "—you perverted fox!"

With that, the girl stormed out of the door.

All Natsume could do was stare at her retreating back, speechless.

* * *

Persona wanted to bang his head onto the table. _So flippin' badly. _

Just when he had thought that things would take a turn for the better, reality decides to give him a cold slap on his face. Tsubasa had come by his office earlier, looking a little tattered, and handed in their mission report to him. They did not manage to take down the leader—he already knew that it would happen, but it had his hopes high anyway—but they did manage to get some information for him. However, the information wasn't what he wanted. He needed leads on someone that went missing eleven years ago.

Persona knew that something was fishy when none of _them_ had contacted him for two years—it was like they had died—which he found out later, that they had actually did. He had grieved for a good couple of months, before he started wondering where his godchildren had disappeared to. The information stated that only their parents had died, but not them. That was when something inside of him found its way out. A new light, some kind of hope; hope that he still had some kind of family out in this cruel, harsh world. He had managed to find Mikan Sakura, which he had been insanely happy for. She had been taken to an orphanage soon after the incident, and locating her hadn't been difficult.

What was difficult had been the other two—the Hyuugas.

He had searched for nine, long years. But, there was still nothing. Nothing at all. Sure, he had found out soon that the older Hyuuga had been abducted by the Alice Organisation, but Tsubasa and Mikan hadn't found anything during their mission there. He had hoped that they would at least encounter him, considering that he had been on guard duty (according to the information he had dug out), but they hadn't. Aside from this piece of information, he could not find any more leads. The younger Hyuuga, on the other hand, seemed like she had disappeared off the face of the Earth. All information of her had been deleted—it was as if someone had planned this all along. The murders, the abduction, and the missing information—it was all too convenient. It couldn't be a coincidence.

Persona was sure. It was _him_ who had done it.

Burying his face into his hands, Persona closed his eyes and sighed. "Natsume, where the hell—" The man stopped mid-sentence, laughing darkly when he realised what he had said wrong.

"Scratch that. Where _in_ hell are you?"

* * *

**A/N:** When I was writing the scene whereby Natsume has a fever, I actually got one. I'm still a little feverish, but I'm feeling a whole lot better. If you spot any mistakes, do tell me yeah?Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter; did it get you grabbing on your seats to know more secrets? ;) The story's full of 'em, if you hadn't noticed. Full of twists and knots. Any guesses to who "them" and "him" is, people?

How about a **review** to make me feel better, hm? **:3 **Thanks for reading!


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